


Secrets Revealed

by dontjudgeabook



Category: Station 19 (TV)
Genre: Canon Divergence, Firefighters, Multi, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-30
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2020-09-30 02:42:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20438918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dontjudgeabook/pseuds/dontjudgeabook
Summary: After Andy finds out about Maya and Jack she goes to talk to Vic (who has some company of her own)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is pretty much a rewrite of the last few episodes of season 2, with less death and more drama (aka how season 2 should have ended)

_Knock knock knock_

“Did you hear that?” Lucas asked, waking Vic from her peaceful slumber in his arms.

“Hear what?” Vic replied sleepily.

“I think someone is at your door, and I would answer it but I don’t think that’s a very good idea,” he replied, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

“It’s passed midnight, whoever it is can wait until morning” Vic said with finality, pulling his arms tighter around her.

The knocking continued, getting louder and louder with each passing minute.

“For the love of god,” Vic huffed, untangling herself from Lucas, getting out of bed and pulling on her clothes that had been discarded on the floor earlier that evening.

As she got closer to the front door she could hear a voice over the knocking.

“Vic let me in! I know your home, I saw your car outside” a familiar voice pleaded from outside the door.

Vic yanked the door open angrily, “Andy? What are you doing here in the middle of the night?”

Andy was standing at her front door with a very pissed off look, but what concerned Vic the most was her puffy, red eyes (she had clearly been crying).

Despite the evidence of tears, anger seemed to now be Andy’s driving force as she pushed Vic aside and let herself into Vic’s apartment, heading for her fridge and grabbing a drink.

Vic closed the door and stared after her expectantly as Andy started pacing her kitchen.

“Are you going to answer my question at some point tonight or just drink all my booze?” Vic asked with her arms crossed in front of her.

“I just don’t understand how she could do this to me!” Andy whined while slugging back more of her drink.

“I mean after everything we’ve been through, how could she do this?” Andy turned to stare at Vic, “How?”

“Who are you talking about?” Vic asked confused as she sat down at her kitchen table.

“Maya!” Andy exclaimed with anger, slamming her drink down on the counter.

“Just breathe Andy, I’m sure whatever Maya did you two will get through it, you’re best friends” Vic said trying to reassure her.

“You don’t understand.” Andy whined as she sat down next to Vic at the kitchen table, “this is unforgivable, she broke the #1 rule of girl code.”

“Which is?” Vic inquired curiously.

“Don’t sleep with your best friend’s ex.” Andy stated coolly.

“Maya slept with Tanner?!” Vic exclaimed.

“God no!” Andy explained, “Maya and Jack have been sleeping together, for weeks apparently, and she didn’t even have the decency to tell me, I mean I didn’t even know she was interested in Jack!”

“Wow, that’s...” Vic faltered, eyes shifting to her bedroom, completely aware that any judgement could eventually make her look like a hypocrite, “...that’s a lot to process.”

“That’s all you have to say?!” Andy questioned angrily slamming down her now empty bottle of beer. “You were the most angry when you found out about Jack and I-“

“Those were different circumstances,” Vic cut in, “You and Jack were fighting for captain at the time and there was a huge conflict of interest. I mean I don’t exactly love the idea of some sort of weird love triangle between our three lieutenants-“

“I don’t have feelings for Jack anymore, if that’s what your worried about,” Andy quickly clarified, looking down at the table.

“If you don’t have feelings for Jack anymore, then why are you so mad about Jack and Maya being together?” Vic questioned looking puzzled.

“It’s humiliating!” Andy exclaimed, looking back up. “I mean she’s my best friend and he’s my ex, hell he almost proposed to me!”

“Jack proposed to you!” Vic almost shouted.

“Not exactly...but when we were together he got a ring, I found it and turned him down,” Andy confessed, surprisingly nonchalant about it.

“This is a lot to process,” Vic said while rubbing her temples and sitting back in the chair. “How did you even find out about Jack and Maya?” she asked.

“I went over to my dad’s for dinner, to ‘formally’ meet Reggie and then it got late so I decided to stay over, so I texted Maya that I wouldn’t be home tonight, but then just as I was about to go to sleep, I could hear my dad and Reggie...,” Andy stopped and shuddered at the memory, Vic was a little grossed out as well (after all Captain Herrera was like a father to her), “Anyway, I decided to go back home, only to find Maya and Jack having sex on our kitchen table.”

“I started yelling at Maya, at Jack, and she said she was going to tell me, but how can I believe anything she says?” Andy whined, looking distressed, possibly like she might cry again.

“As soon as I found out that it had been going on for weeks and she hadn’t even bothered to tell me, I left. I didn’t really know where to go and I know you and I haven’t hung out much lately but I was hoping you would let me crash?” Andy looked up at her, the question lingering.

“Of course you can stay,” Vic said while moving to squeeze her hand reassuringly, “I’ll set the couch up for you in just a minute, but first I want to say something and I don’t want you to get mad.”

“What?” Andy looked confused.

“Is Maya happy? Is Jack? I get that it’s awkward for you, but if you no longer have feelings for Jack...,” Vic sighed, “Look, if they are happy, and they want to be together then there is nothing you can do to stop them. It’s up to you whether you want to forgive them and be happy for them or if you are going to lose your best friend over this.”

“I guess your right,” Andy conceded, “I’m just not quite ready to forgive and forget.”

Vic nodded her head in understanding, “That’s fair, its probably going to take some time to get used to, but you’ll get there.” 

“When did you become so wise?” Andy joked, breaking the tension in the room.

Vic just smiled, shook her head and went to the closet to get sheets and blankets to make up the couch for Andy.

“Can I use your bathroom?” Andy asked as she headed towards it. 

Vic just nodded at her and went back to making up the couch, until she remembered that her bathroom was in her room, where Lucas was probably sleeping.

Vic swore under her breath and headed towards her room only to run into Andy in the hallway.

“Are you okay?” Andy questions, “You look like you just saw a ghost.”

“I’m fine,” Vic said relieved that Andy hadn’t in fact run into Lucas on her way to the bathroom, “I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“I’m okay, or I will be okay, eventually.” Andy said. “I’m still not completely over the shock of the whole situation, I think I just need some sleep.”

“Goodnight.” Vic called after her as she headed back into the living room towards the couch.

“Goodnight.” Andy called back to her.

———————

Vic walked back to her bedroom and closed the door before whispering into the darkness, “Luke?”

Suddenly, Lucas popped his head out of her closet, looking at her with a dopey grin on his face, “Is the coast clear?” he whispered.

Vic nodded as they both climbed back into bed, “Andy is asleep on the couch, she had a rough night and...” 

Vic was hesitant to say more, she didn’t want to keep things from him, but she also didn’t want to put anyone in an awkward position.

Lucas put his arms around her waist, “Look, I get that there are things about your team that you can’t tell me and I understand that, but I literally just had to hide in the closet,” Lucas sighed and rubbed his eyes with one hand.

Vic sat up slightly to look him in the eye, “What are you saying?” she asked cautiously.

Lucas took a breath and continued, “I’m saying, I’m also sick of the secrets and I’m also tired of hiding, so...maybe we shouldn’t be a secret anymore.”

Vic smiled brightly at him and he smiled right back at her as she pulled him into a deep kiss.

When they finally pulled apart, Lucas chuckled at her and said, “I guess that’s a yes.”

“Of course I want to go public with you,” Vic smiled, “but, I don’t think now is the best time, I have a feeling things at 19 are about to get complicated enough as it is.” 

Lucas raised his eyebrows in question, but said nothing even though he was somewhat concerned considering the bits and pieces of Vic and Herrera’s conversation he had overheard.

“How would we go about going public?” Vic asked, changing the subject, “What are the rules here exactly?”

“We technically aren’t allowed to date and work in the same department and I outrank you,” Lucas explained.

“Yeah, by about a thousand ranks” Vic clarified while reaching her hand up to stroke his beard affectionately.

“What if one of us transferred to another department?” she suggested while resting her other hand on the arm he had around her waist.

“Do you really want to do long distance?” Lucas questioned, shifting in bed to lean closer to her.

“Your right, never works,” Vic conceded.

“Besides, I know how much 19 means to you and I could never ask you to give that up,” Lucas said, rubbing circles on her hip comfortingly with his hand.

Vic just shrugs, but before she can say anything in response Lucas keeps going.

“I could step down,” he suggests, “I’ve had a long career and yours is just starting.”

Vic pulls away from him slightly to look at him, “Well that’s some lame-ass, codependent, self-sacrificial territory and I won’t live there” she replied leaving no room for further discussion on that subject while Lucas just shook his head at her. 

“We could report ourselves to HR,” Lucas suggested nonchalantly, “it will be better if they hear it from us then if we are outed by someone else, but there is still a risk of termination, for both of us” he finished, looking grim. 

“What would happen if we report ourselves?” Vic asked curiously.

“They would have to start an investigation, they would interview me, you, anyone who knew or could have known about our relationship, so your team, and some of the people I work with at HQ” he explained, rubbing his head in thought.

“That seems...extensive” Vic said nervously.

“They have to make sure I didn’t pressure you-“ he tried to explain but was cut off.

“Well you didn’t so it doesn’t matter“ she said simply, leaning into him and burying her head in his neck.

Lucas sighed, “It’s not that simple, we broke protocol, and we are probably going to face some sort of consequences, whether it be termination, suspension, or a reprimand.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t go public,” Vic admitted defeatedly as she realized the weight of what he was trying to say.

“The risks are still the risks,” he responded shrugging his shoulders.

Vic just looked up at him with eyebrows raised.

“I don’t want to lie to you, if we chose to do this it would be rough and it would probably take a toll on everyone involved” he admitted seriously.

Vic looked uneasy at his confession.

“We can keep exploring other options, we have time” he said, trying to reassure her.

Vic just nodded and sighed in response, “I just wish it didn’t have to be this complicated” she confessed.

“So do I,” he sighed, pulling her towards him, and kissing her forehead.

She looked up at him and gave him a small smile before kissing him goodnight, turning off the light, cuddling into him and falling asleep.

———————

The next morning, Vic wakes up to the sound of the shower running and the smell of freshly brewed coffee, which Lucas has set on her bedside table.

She gets up slowly, stretching like a cat, and pulling herself up into a sitting position to enjoy her coffee when the shower shuts off and Lucas comes out of the bathroom wearing only a towel, which was sitting low on his hips.

They smile at each other as he goes to the dresser to grab his clothes and he says, with a smirk, “You’re still here.”

She looks at him confused for a second before it clicks, and she gets out of bed, shaking her head as she makes her way towards him, “Are you ever going to get over that?” she asks with a grin as she reaches him and puts her hands around his neck.

He smiles as he puts his arms around her waist, “You literally fled from your own apartment while I was in your shower,” he said pointedly.

She threw her head back and laughed, “I think I had a pretty good reason” she says.

“And what was that?” he inquired curiously as his hands, that were resting on her hips, started tracing meaningless patterns, continuing higher up on her body.

“It doesn’t matter now anyways,” she whispered in his ear as she used the arms that were around his neck to pull him into a slow, languid kiss.

Suddenly, as she reached for his towel, he pulled away, breathless and she gave him a questioning look.

“As much as I would love to, someone else is still here as well,” he explained gesturing his head towards the bedroom door and Vic looked at him, puzzled.

“Herrera is still asleep on the couch from last night,” he says, “I saw her in there when I went into the kitchen to go make coffee.”

“Shit!” Vic whispers under her breath, quickly untangling herself from him to grab her clothes and get dressed.

“Get dressed quickly while she’s still asleep and I’ll sneak you out the front door,” Vic says as she pulls on her jeans and a t-shirt.

Lucas just chuckles at her, but does what she says as he goes to the closet to grab his uniform, he needs to be at work soon anyway, he thinks to himself.

A few minutes later they are both dressed and standing at the door of Vic’s bedroom. Vic slowly pushes the door open a crack, to peak out into the hallway.

“All clear,” she whispers as she pushes the door all the way open, practically tiptoeing out into the hallway, as Lucas follows her lead.

They quietly make their way down the hallway and into the living room, where Andy is asleep on the couch.

Just as they are passing the couch, Andy stirs slightly and mumbles something in her sleep.

Vic and Lucas both pause and hold their collective breaths while looking wide eyed at each other, but Andy just rolls over and settles back down onto the couch.

Vic lets out a sigh of relief as they make their way towards the front door.

Once they reach the front door, Vic gives Lucas a fairly chaste goodbye kiss then opens the front door to let him out, and stops dead in her tracks.


	2. Chapter 2

Maya knew she needed to give Andy some time and space to process everything that had happened, but she was worried about losing her best friend. She wanted to explain everything to Andy, how she wanted to tell her about Jack, and how she was going to the night of the RV crash, but then the whole thing with Ryan and Jenna happened. 

Maya knew that wasn’t the only reason she chickened out on telling Andy about her and Jack. She was scared, she was scared of the very exact thing that happened last night. 

She couldn’t get the look Andy had given her last night out of her head. She was shocked, mad, and angry that much was clear, but it was the disappointment and disgust that was written clear across her face that was seared into her memory.

She had sent Jack home almost immediately after Andy left last night. He wanted to talk about what had happened and how sorry he was, but she cut him off by telling him that she needed some time and space to figure things out with Andy.

She had tried calling Andy a couple of times this morning, just to make sure she was okay, but her phone went straight to voicemail. She was pretty sure she knew where Andy went last night, so she grabbed her things and headed out the door, hoping to catch Andy and talk to her before they went into work that morning.

She went to ring the doorbell, when the door opened, but the person on the other side of the door was not who she was expecting.

There was an older lady just inside the door, who looked very surprised to see her.

“I’m sorry,” Maya said, “I must have the wrong address, I’m looking for Pruitt Herrera’s house.”

“Oh yes! You have the right place, he’s just inside” she explained as she moved to let Maya past.

She was confused for a moment before realizing that the lady must be Reggie, Pruitt’s new lady friend.

“Bishop?” Pruitt exclaimed from his seat at the kitchen table when he saw Maya enter, “What are you doing here?”

Maya stood awkwardly in the middle of the kitchen as Reggie sat back down, handing Pruitt the newspaper she had gotten from the front porch, “I was just looking for Andy, she said she was spending the night” she explained.

“That was the plan, but when I woke up this morning she was gone and I just assumed she went back to the apartment...” Pruitt furrowed his eyebrows at Maya, “Did she not come home last night?” he asked, looking increasingly worried.

“Yes, she did,” Maya rushed out, trying to reassure him. “You know what she probably just went into work early,” she said, moving towards the door to leave, “I’ll just see her there.”

She practically ran out of the house, barely getting out the word “goodbye,” and leaving a very confused Pruitt in her wake.

There was only one other place (besides the station) that Maya could think of where Andy would have gone last night.

She got to the front door and raised her hand to knock, when suddenly the door flung open to reveal a casually dressed Vic (who she was expecting), but who she was not expecting was Chief Ripley, standing right behind Vic, dressed in his work uniform.

“Chief?!” exclaimed Maya, completely taken aback at what she was seeing. 

“What is going on?!” Maya asked bewildered, taking in the sight in front of her. It was early in the morning, on a weekday, and Ripley was leaving Vic’s apartment.

Neither Vic nor Ripley spoke at first, instead making eye contact with each other and having some sort of silent conversation with their eyes, which was unsettling to Maya.

Maya just kept looking in disbelief between Vic and the Chief, not quite wanting to believe what she was seeing although it was blatantly obvious what he was doing there.

“I - we -“ Vic stumbled out, trying to find the words to explain but failed, so they fell back into an awkward silence, Vic and Ripley, both avoiding eye contact with her.

Suddenly, a tired groan came from Vic’s living room followed by Andy’s voice which was laced with sleep, “What the hell is going on - Chief?!” she exclaimed as she made her way to the entrance, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and taking in the view in front of her.

No one said anything for a while, everyone was just looking back and forth between each other, Vic was the first one to break the silence, as she turned to Ripley and said, “You need to go to work, just go, and I’ll deal with this.”

Ripley gave her a look that seemed to ask if she was sure, and Vic nodded motioning for him to go. He stepped around Maya, still avoiding eye contact with her and headed out.

Vic put her head in one hand, and gestured for Maya to come in with the other hand as she closed the door behind her and lead them into the kitchen sitting down at the table and signalling for Andy and Maya to sit down as well.

“Vic..., what-how...?” Maya started, but realized she didn’t know where she was going with this. She looked towards Andy for some kind of help, but Andy was blatantly ignoring her gaze.

“What on Earth are you doing?!” Andy finally burst out, glaring at Vic. “He is the Fire Chief, the person in charge of the _entire_ department, your boss’s boss’s boss-“

“Don’t you think I know that?” Vic snapped, glaring back at Andy. “Look,” she said relaxing her tone slightly, “I didn’t mean for this to happen, it just kind of - I don’t know how to explain it, but he makes me happy and I enjoy spending time with him, is that really a crime?”

Andy just snorted, crossing her arms and ignoring her question, “How long has this been going on?” she inquired.

Maya leaned forward, curious herself, while Vic looked down at her hands as she answered quietly, “About 7 months.”

“7 MONTHS?” Andy and Maya both exclaimed at the same time. Vic winced slightly, but still didn’t look up from the table.

Maya’s face was frozen in surprise while Andy got up from the table and started pacing the length of Vic’s kitchen, then she stopped and turned to Vic, “You kept a secret for 7 months? You couldn’t even keep Miller’s birthday a secret for 2 minutes!”

Vic just shrugged in response.

”This was important” she eventually admitted after a few moments.

“Does anybody else know?” Maya questioned curiously.

“Just Travis, and...,” Vic paused, shifting in her seat slightly, looking between Maya and Andy, “and Jack” she finally said.

“Travis I get, he’s your best friend, but you told Jack before you told us?” Maya asked sounding hurt.

“I didn’t tell Jack exactly, he figured it out, it was an accident” Vic explained.

“It’s not my fault you two couldn’t even bother enough to notice” she said somewhat bitterly.

“I guess we haven’t spent much time together lately outside the station,” Maya confessed, “I just thought you were spending more time with Travis since his breakup with Grant.”

“Wait,” Andy started with a look of realization in her eyes and Vic shifted in her seat to look at her, “Was he here last night when I came over, does he know-“

“Yes, he was here,” Vic cut in raising her hand to stop Andy, “but no I didn’t tell him anything about what happened, I didn’t want to put anyone in an awkward situation.”

Andy was still standing in the middle of the kitchen with a disgusted look on her face. Vic was unsure in that moment who exactly Andy was more angry with, her or Maya, but she wasn’t happy with either of their attitudes towards her considering why they were both at her apartment in the first place.

“It’s not like either of you have any moral high ground here anyway, considering you’ve both now had a relationship within the department.” Vic stated coolly, crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair to look at them.

“We aren’t talking about that right now,” Andy said pointedly.

“Maybe we should,” said Maya, turning in her chair to face Andy, “that’s why I came over, so we could talk before work.”

“I have nothing to say to you and I don’t want to hear anything you have to say at the moment” Andy practically spat, glaring at Maya.

Vic looked over at them somewhat concerned, “Are you two going to be able to work together today?” she questioned, “Because when we go to work, people count on us, their lives are in our hands, literally, and nothing can come before that.”

“It won’t be a problem,” Andy replied, still glaring at Maya.

“Good,” Vic replied, somewhat unconvinced, as her eyes shifted between her two lieutenants, then she got up from the table. “Well, I need to get ready for work and so do you two, we can’t all be late,” she stated as she walked to the fridge to grab something for breakfast.

“I better go,” Maya whispered, getting up from the table and heading towards the front door. “I guess I’ll see you both at work,” she said while looking back at Andy who was still actively avoiding her gaze.

———————

Maya had just finished getting dressed in her uniform and putting her stuff away in her locker, when Jack approached her hesitantly, coming up to stand beside her at her locker.

“Hey,” he said looking at her with a concerned expression, “Can we talk?” he leaned in and asked in a low voice.

Maya glanced around the locker room, only seeing Travis and Ben talking quietly to each other while finishing getting ready for shift.

She nodded wordlessly and walked away to the supply closet, knowing that he would follow her.

She had only been waiting in the closet for a few minutes when the door was pushed open slowly as Jack entered and closed the door quietly behind him.

Neither one said anything for a moment, they both just shifted from staring at each other to staring at the ground, unsure of what to say.

It was Maya who spoke first, “You wanted to talk, so talk” she said.

Jack sighed, rubbing his head with one hand, “I’m sorry, I know you wanted to tell Andy earlier and then I freaked you out about telling her and now...” he trailed off, “I never wanted to come between you and Andy, I know you two are best friends.”

“This isn’t your fault, I’m the one who chose to sleep with you, fully aware of your history with Andy, and I’m the one who decided not to tell her,” Maya said with her arms crossed, still not quite able to meet his eyes.

“Where do we stand?” Jack asked, looking very vulnerable in that instant. “Because I like you Maya, I really like you,” he said moving closer towards her, resting a hand on her arm, “I want to keep seeing you.”

At that declaration, she met his eyes, “I want to keep seeing you too” she said with a smile, and Jack beamed. “But,” she continued, “Andy is my best friend and I need to make things right with her before anything else happens between us” she stated firmly.

Jack nodded, “I understand, just let me know if there is anything I can do.” 

Maya just nodded back at him as he let go of her arm and walked back out of the closet.

She let herself have one last moment before stepping out of the closet, and bracing herself for the day.

———————

Dean was just finishing up his breakfast in the beanery when he heard Sullivan call for morning lineup.

He sighed, getting up from his chair and setting his dishes in the sink.

He couldn’t really explain it, but he had an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach, like he knew something was wrong he just didn’t know what exactly it was.

Everyone was scarce this morning, the beanery, which was normally full of people before shift, was deserted except for himself and Ben, who was busy studying his Medic One textbooks, he hadn’t even heard Sullivan call for lineup.

Dean had to call his name four times just to get his attention.

“Have you noticed anything weird this morning?” Dean asked Ben as they made their way down the steps towards the garage.

“Not really, but I don’t think I looked up from my books for longer than 5 minutes,” Ben chuckled, “Why? Have you?” he inquired.

“I don’t know how to explain it, something just feels different this morning, and not a good different, a bad different, I can feel it in my gut” Dean confessed, not sure exactly how to voice what he was feeling.

“Or maybe you just had too much to eat for breakfast,” Ben joked casually.

Dean smiled at him weakly, unable to shake the feeling.

As soon as they arrived for lineup, Dean knew something was wrong. 

You could practically cut the tension with a knife.

Sullivan hadn’t arrived in the garage yet, but no one was saying anything.

Andy and Maya, who normally stood beside each other at lineup, were now on complete opposite ends from each other, and were studiously avoiding looking at one another.

Travis and Vic were standing next to each other and Travis was whispering something to Vic, who brushed him off quietly, saying she would talk to him later.

Ben went to stand next to Travis, and Dean went to stand next to Jack, who was standing next to Maya, but there was still a considerable distance between them.

Before Dean could say anything, Sullivan came out of his office and into the garage.

He clearly noticed the tension as well as he eyed everyone a little more cautiously at lineup, before handing out their assignments for the day.

Dean was on engine with Jack and Maya. Sullivan, Andy, and Ben were on ladder and Vic and Travis were on aid car together.

Almost as soon as Sullivan had given out their assignments, the siren went off for an aid car call.

Travis and Vic headed off to the call, while the others all went their separate ways again without speaking.

———————

Travis and Vic were on their way back to the station from their call which ended up being a kid who had broken his arm after falling off the swing set at the nearby elementary school.

They had dropped the kid off at Grey Sloan almost twenty minutes ago, but traffic was so bad that they had barely gone anywhere.

Vic was clearly getting impatient as she hit the steering wheel and slumped back in her seat, looking frustrated.

“What is going on?” Travis finally asked.

“I don’t know, it must be an accident, I mean it’s been almost half an hour-“

“Not with traffic,” Travis interrupted turning in his seat to face her, “With you, and everyone else in the station for that matter.”

Vic sighed, turning her head to look him in the eye, “They know” she said.

“Who knows what?” Travis inquired, clearly confused.

“Andy and Maya, they know about...” she paused slightly before continuing, “They know about me and Ripley” she rushed out quietly, almost as if she was afraid someone could hear them.

“Oh,” he said empathetically, not really sure what Vic wanted him to say.

“We talked last night, and decided that we want to go public with our relationship, but it’s complicated and I thought we had time to figure things out and then everything went to shit this morning and I haven’t even had the chance to properly talk to him since everything happened.” Vic looked like she was possibly on the verge of a panic attack, she had rushed everything out without even pausing to take a breath.

“How did Andy and Maya even find out?” Travis asked.

Vic let out a short, dry laugh as she shook her head, “That’s another story entirely.”

Travis just looked at her, confused, with raised eyebrows, gesturing for her to elaborate.

“Andy came over last night after midnight freaking out because apparently Jack and Maya have been hooking up for weeks, and she caught them together.”

“Holy shit!” Travis exclaimed, “Jack and Maya?!”

Vic nodded and continued, “So, I let Andy stay the night on the couch and when I went to sneak Ripley out of the front door in the morning, Maya was on my doorstep looking for Andy.”

“Wow,” was all Travis could say.

“I don’t know what to do,” Vic practically whined, “I mean our relationship is hardly a secret anymore, more than half of the station knows about us now!”

“Is that really a bad thing?” Travis asked in a gentle tone.

Vic thought about it for a moment, “I guess not” she finally said, “but things are going so well between us in our little bubble, I don’t want to ruin things.”

Travis reached for her hand and squeezed it, giving her a smile, “Talk to Ripley, tell him how you feel and then together decide how you both want to proceed.”

Vic let out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding, “Thanks Trav,” she said, giving him a small smile and squeezing his hand back.


	3. Chapter 3

Andy had been pacing outside Sullivan’s door for the last 5 minutes (she hadn’t been able to force herself to knock yet). Her conversation last night with Vic had helped and she understood what Vic was saying about forgiveness, but she wasn’t quite ready for that yet, she was still angry and felt somewhat betrayed, after all, Maya was supposed to be her best friend and Jack was her ex-boyfriend.

Suddenly, the door swung open, startling Andy from her thoughts.

“You’ve been standing out here for over 5 minutes, do you want to come in?” Sullivan asked while gesturing for Andy to come inside his office.

Andy didn’t say anything, she just nodded and walked into the room, sitting down in one of the desk chairs.

Sullivan closed the door and made his way around his desk to sit in his chair. “This wouldn’t happen to have anything to do with the tension I felt between Gibson, Bishop, and yourself this morning, would it?” Sullivan asked pointedly.

“Sort of,” Andy replied, avoiding eye contact, she wanted his advice, as a friend, but she didn’t want to reveal the whole story to their Captain. She was still mad at Maya but she didn’t want her to get in any trouble. She knew her dad had protected her and Jack by not reporting their relationship, but she didn’t know how Sullivan would react.

“Maya and I, we are best friends, but recently we got into a big fight and it’s threatening our relationship.” Andy finally said after a long silence. 

“What was the fight about?” Sullivan asked curiously.

Andy squirmed uncomfortably in her seat, “I’d rather not go into the specifics, but basically she betrayed my trust,” she finally admitted.

Sullivan raised his eyebrows at her, he could clearly tell something bigger was going on.

She was reluctant to continue and Sullivan could sense that so he moved the conversation along, “Did I ever tell you that Ripley and I used to be best friends?” he asked suddenly.

“Really?” Andy questioned, leaning forward.

“We had an ... argument, about 15 years ago, I don’t want to get into the details, but Ripley was put in a tough position where he had to make a decision-“ Sullivan got a weird look on his face and paused to compose himself, but eventually continued. “I disagreed with his decision and I didn’t talk to him for a long time, he kept reaching out but I wasn’t able to let go of my anger. It wasn’t until Ripley reached out about this job and I came back to Seattle that I realized how much time I wasted being angry...” he trailed off and shook his head then refocused the conversation, “I guess what I’m trying to say is, don’t waste precious time being mad, life is short, especially in our line of work, and if you do, you’ll wake up and realize that you’ve wasted years of your life. Ripley and I are just beginning to repair our relationship and I’ve realized over the last few months how much I’ve missed having him in my life.”

Andy, who had been listening intently throughout Sullivan’s story, reached out and squeezed his hand, lingering a little longer than necessary, as they stared into each other’s eyes.

After the moment passed and Sullivan cleared his throat, Andy let go of his hand and spoke for the first time since entering Sullivan’s office, “I don’t want to waste time being angry, but right now I just feel so furious and betrayed, and I think I need some time before I’m ready to forgive her, and I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to trust her again.”

“It’s hard,” Sullivan conceded, “and I know that my relationship with Ripley will never be what it once was, but change can be a good thing, even if you can’t see it right now.”

They both sat in silence for a few moments, reflecting on their conversation until Andy suddenly blurted out, “Is Ripley a good man?”

Sullivan looked taken aback for a moment at the exclamation but recovered quickly, “I mean he’s not perfect, but he tries his best...” Sullivan hesitated and narrowed his eyes at her, “Why?”

Andy squirmed a little in her seat, she so badly wanted to talk about this revelation with someone (if Andy was being honest with herself, it was more shocking than Jack and Maya), but she promised Vic that she wouldn’t say anything (and she wasn’t talking to Maya at the moment), so she just shrugged her shoulders, trying, and failing, to seem nonchalant.

Meanwhile, Sullivan continued narrowing his eyes at her, trying to figure out what she knew.

“Do you know something?” he asked curiously.

“Do _you_ know something?” Andy parroted back, eyeing him carefully.

They continued staring at each other, each one daring the other to be the first one to speak, to reveal exactly what they know.

It’s Andy who ends up breaking first.

“After my fight with Maya, I went over to Vic’s apartment and she wasn’t exactly alone...” Andy admitted hesitantly.

“So you know,” Sullivan said, leaning back in his chair.

“How long have you known?” Andy questioned, confused and a little hurt that the Captain had known about this before her.

“A little over a month” Sullivan admitted.

“Did Ripley tell you?” Andy asked curiously since Vic hadn’t mentioned that Sullivan knew this morning.

“Not exactly,” Sullivan said, “I just know him, and it became obvious to me that something was going on.”

This gave Andy pause. Did she not know Vic as well as she thought she did? Or Maya for that matter? She hadn’t even realized either one of them were even seriously seeing anybody until it was literally staring her right in the face. Had she really become that self absorbed with her own problems that she was unable to see what was going on in her friend’s lives?

“I think it would be best if this stays between us” Sullivan said hesitantly, pulling her from her thoughts.

“Why haven’t you reported them?” Andy inquired.

“Hughes is part of my team, and I protect my team,” Sullivan stated simply, “I also don’t want to ruin either of their careers, this is potentially a fireable offence for both of them if their...relationship ever comes to light.”

“I’m worried about Vic,” Andy said seriously, “If this gets out, it could not only ruin her career but also her reputation.”

“I’m going to try my best not to let that happen,” Sullivan said grimly.

Andy nodded and got out of the chair to leave. When she got to the door, she turned back to look at him, “Thanks,” she said with a smile as she opened the door. Sullivan nodded back at her and gave her a small smile as she left his office.

———————

Jack was doing his best to keep to himself when they weren’t on calls, deciding to check and sort the hoses alone in the turnout room.

Maya had said she wanted space to figure things out with Andy, and he knew better then to try and get in the middle of that.

However, that’s not the part of their conversation he was focused on.

Maya wanted to keep seeing him, she had said so herself and every time he thought of that he got a stupid grin on his face.

“Hey man” Dean said as he entered the turnout room and Jack was pulled from his thoughts, trying his best to hide his smile.

“Hey” he replied back absentmindedly, not really taking his eyes off the task at hand.

It wasn’t until Dean was standing right next to him that he finally looked up at him with raised eyebrows.

“Can I help you?” Jack asked, somewhat confused as Dean just continued to stare at him with arms crossed.

“What is going on around here?” Dean finally asked.

“What do you me-“

“Don’t play dumb with me,” Dean cut him off. “I mean the awkwardness at lineup this morning.”

“I don’t know what your talking about” Jack answered, unable to meet Dean’s eyes.

“Oh please, you could practically cut the tension with a knife” Dean replied skeptically.

Jack just shrugged, keeping his eyes focused on the row of hoses in front of him.

“This wouldn’t happen to have anything to do with Maya sneaking in at all weird hours and then sneaking out again at even weirder hours” Dean stated pointedly, eyeing Jack with his arms still crossed.

At that, Jack looked up at Dean in surprise.

“Yes, I know” Dean admitted, “I’ve known for a while, but I didn’t want to make things awkward.”

“Well, Andy found out last night so I don’t think it can get any more awkward” Jack confessed.

“What were you thinking?” Dean asked astonished, “I mean you might as well have dated sisters considering how close Andy and Maya are.”

“I know,” Jack said hanging his head, “But Maya was really there for me with my PTSD, even when I didn’t want her to be, and then after being quarantined on that train together, things just happened.”

“You need to make this right,” Dean told Jack, “We aren’t even supposed to have three lieutenants and if you guys can’t find a way to get along then somebody’s going to have to leave and nobody wants that.”

Jack just nodded at him in understanding, “I will.”

“Good” Dean replied, grabbing his hand and pulling him in for a hug.

“And a word of advice,” Dean said as he left the turnout room, “the houseboat has thin walls.”

———————

Vic’s thumb was hovering over the call button on her phone under the contact “Lucas” (she had ended up changing it not long after the incident with Jack).

Just as she was building up the nerve to call, her phone started ringing.

It was him.

She quickly picked it up and answered it.

“Hey,” she said softly into the phone, “I was just about to call you.”

Lucas seemed to relax at that, “I figured we should talk, since we didn’t really get a chance to this morning.”

“Yeah,” was all Vic managed to say in response.

“I wanted to come over and have this conversation in person but that didn’t seem like a good idea,” he admitted.

“Probably not,” she conceded sounding somewhat disappointed.

“How did it go after I left this morning?” he asked with concern.

“Well, they were both a little shocked, but once they got over that there was some anger, I think they were mostly just hurt that I hadn’t told them,” Vic confessed honestly.

Lucas was silent on the other end of the phone call, which worried Vic.

“I know we had discussed going public-“ Vic started but was interrupted by Lucas, “I’m sorry you had to lie to your friends” he blurted out suddenly.

Vic was taken aback for a moment, “I understood the need for secrecy, we were - are in a tough spot.”

“I realized where you were coming from after talking to Sully after our fight, it felt good to talk to a friend about everything” he conceded.

“Yeah,” she agreed absentmindedly.

“Wait...did you tell _Sullivan_ about us?” she whisper-yelled into the phone.

Lucas fumbled for words on the other line, “I didn’t really tell him, it was more like he figured it out.”

“Well I didn’t tell Travis or Jack either, they both figured it out themselves,” Vic stated, somewhat annoyed.

“I guess we aren’t as good at keeping secrets as we thought we were” Lucas chuckled.

“I guess not” Vic agreed with a laugh.

The call was silent for a few moments.

“So, what are we going to do?” Vic asked carefully.

“I think we need to come clean to HR and hope for the best,” he admitted reluctantly, “Too many people know now and we run the risk of being reported by someone else.”

“I agree, I’m just worried about the repercussions-“

“I’ll do everything I can to protect you from the fallout” he said seriously.

“You can’t really promise that,” Vic pointed out, “Besides, we are both equally responsible for what happened-“

“But I’m you superior, I should have-“

“I flirted with you, I’m the one who invited you back to my apartment and I don’t regret any of it” Vic cut him off with a tone that left no room for argument.

“Neither do I” Lucas admitted.

“When would we do it?” Vic asked cautiously after a few moments.

“I could do it today,” Lucas suggested, “That is if this is what you want” he said hastily, “We have to both agree about what we want to do, I don’t want you to agree just because-“

“Let’s do it” was all Vic said in response.

“I want to be able to live out loud, in public, with you” she said with a smile, and Vic couldn’t see it but Lucas was grinning from ear to ear on the other side of the phone.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m so sorry this took so long to update. School was crazy this year and work has been especially crazy over the last few weeks (as I am an essential worker). I’m hoping now that school is over I’ll be able to update more regularly and finish this story! I’m also sorry that there isn’t that much Vicley in this chapter but there will be a lot more of them in the coming chapters!
> 
> Disclaimer: I have not been watching season 3 of Station 19 and only know minimal details of what has been going on (mostly pertaining to Vic) so this will not correlate with season 3

It was so quiet at dinner that night that you could practically hear a pin drop, or in this case, Jack's obnoxiously loud chewing Dean thought to himself as he glanced around at the rest of the team.

Andy was flat out refusing to even look at Maya let alone talk to her unless it had something to do with work.

Jack had been keeping his eyes on his plate since dinner started and Dean knew that Jack probably blamed himself for this situation, even if it was somewhat true, Dean still couldn't help but feel bad for Jack.

Dean kept trying to catch Travis eye, hoping to get some help from him in sorting out all this tension but Travis had spent the majority of the meal looking at Vic with a concerned expression and at one point Vic's knee was shaking so much that Travis had to physically put his hand over it to get her to stop.

Dean also noticed that Vic had barely touched her dinner which was surprising because it was normally her favourite, instead she seemed to be looking at her phone intently under the table.

Dean had tried at the beginning of the meal to start a conversation but he was met with glares from almost everyone, even Ben, who was still pouring over his textbooks for Medic One.

Eventually Dean just gave up trying and resounded to sitting quietly, trying to finish his dinner as fast as possible and hoping for a call out.

———————

Pruitt pushed open the door to the beanery and saw that the team was in the middle of having dinner.

His eyes searched the beanery for Andrea, he wanted to know why she left so abruptly in the middle of the night and why she wasn’t answering his messages.

He knew something was wrong, and Bishop’s strange presence at his house that morning was further proof of that.

He was going to ask to speak to Andrea privately, but when he entered the beanery he could immediately tell something was off with the team. No one was saying anything and usually dinner was loud and full of conversation.

He greeted everyone, but all he got in return were some grumbled, quiet greetings.

He eyed the team suspiciously, but no one would meet his eye, everyone was more preoccupied with their food. Well, everybody but Miller who was giving him a pleading look that seemed to be asking him to do something, but Pruitt wasn't quite sure what that something was.

“What is going on?” Pruitt finally asked after a few moments. Everyone looked up at him shrugging their shoulders and shaking their heads.

“Don’t lie to me, I can tell something is off” Pruitt demanded.

Andrea sighed and rolled her eyes at him, “Nothing is going on, could you just leave it alone” she replied tersely.

Pruitt raised his eyebrows at her outburst, “If nothing is going on then why did you leave in the middle of the night last night?” he asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Andrea rubbed her temples, obviously doing her best to avoid eye contact with him.

“Do you not like Reggie?” Pruitt asked somewhat worriedly, he never really dated after his wife had passed when Andrea was a kid, but he assumed that Andrea now being a grown woman would have been okay with it. He also hoped that if she did have a problem she would come to him about it.

“No dad, of course I liked Reggie,” his daugther admitted, looking up at him, “I’m glad you found someone that makes you - happy,” she practically choked on the last word.

“Then why did you leave in the middle of the night?” Pruitt asked, confused.

Andrea went slightly pink, “I...just...I,” she stubbled out, clearly unsure of what she should say next, “I didn’t have a change of clothes and your new place is far from the station,” she finally said.

Pruitt eyed her suspiciously, not at all believing what she said, but decided to let it go for now, he would try and bring it up again at another time.

“That still doesn’t explain the reason why everybody else is acting so weird,” Pruitt said, eyeing each person cautiously.

Nobody said anything, everyone just kept looking down at their plates with the exception of Warren who had barely taken his eyes off his textbook since Pruitt walked in.

“I can’t take this anymore!” Bishop burst out all of a sudden, getting up from her seat.

Everyone turned to look at her in alarm (Warren even took his head out of his textbook).

“I’m tired of all the secrets in the station, we are supposed to be a team! We shouldn’t be keeping things from each other!” she exclaimed and he watched as Hughes shifted in her seat as Bishop’s eyes landed on her.

“And in the interest of no more secrets, I have something to share,” she started hesitantly. 

“For the last few weeks, Jack and I have been seeing each other,” she rushed out, glancing over at Gibson, who had gone slightly red and wouldn’t look up from the table.

Warren was clearly shocked and confused at the revelation, “What?!” was all he managed to sputter out, textbooks now completely forgotten.

Pruitt took a deep breath as he glanced around at the rest of the table he noticed that no one other than Warren seemed surprised at the news.

Andrea was scowling down at her food while picking at it, avoiding everyone’s gaze and looking like she would rather be absolutely anywhere else.

The rest of the team was looking at her like they were bracing for a flashover, except for Hughes who only seemed to be half paying attention to what was going on, clearing looking at something under the table that he couldn't see.

Pruitt was unable to contain his look of disappointment as he looked over to Gibson and Bishop, he crossed his arms and pursed his lips and he was shaking his head in displeasure. 

“I thought you two would know better, after everything that went on last year, what were you two thinking?!” he eventually exclaimed.

“I don’t even have the words to express how disappointed I am in both of you, especially you Gibson,” he said turning to the younger man, who still wouldn’t meet his eyes.

“This isn’t just Gibson’s fault,” Bishop said as she sat back down, cowering slightly under Pruitt’s intense gaze.

Before Pruitt could say anything else, Sullivan burst his way into the beanery.

———————

“What the hell is going on up here?” Sullivan demanded angrily, “I can hear you all the way from my office!”

“This doesn’t concern you Sullivan” Pruitt said to him bitterly while glaring at Gibson and Bishop.

Sullivan looked at him bewildered, “Doesn’t concern me?” he replied in shock, “I’m the Captain here and this is _my_ team!” 

Everyone was deadly silent, their eyes darting between himself and Pruitt. He couldn't have Pruitt constantly around undermining his authority, he knows that the team sees him as a father figure and that he is Andy's father, but at the end of the day Sullivan was their Captain now and they had to listen to him and respect his command.

“Well you don’t even seem to notice that there is a problem in _your_ team, let alone try to fix it!” Pruitt shot back furiously.

“They are all grown adults and nothing has interfered with their work, it’s not my job to babysit them!” Sullivan countered, getting angrier by the second.

“You don’t have to babysit them but would it kill you to make an effort! I mean you could a least eat with the team!” Pruitt, he noticed, was becoming red in the face with rage.

“Things have been working just fine around here as things are” Sullivan said pointedly.

“That’s questionable” Pruitt huffed.

“Excuse me?” Sullivan questioned.

“You’ve been oblivious to things going on with the team!” Pruitt practically shouted, “You didn’t notice that Gibson had PTSD for months! And you didn’t notice that two of your lieutenants have been sleeping together!”

“I - Wait what?!” Sullivan exclaimed looking sharply between his lieutenants, who were all avoiding eye contact with him, “Who?”

“Gibson and Bishop” Pruitt replied with a hint of disappointment.

Sullivan put his head in his hands, rubbing his face, “How long has this been going on?” he finally asked.

“Since the outbreak on the train” Bishop barely squeaked out, still not looking him in the eye.

“We aren’t even supposed to have three lieutenants and I stuck my neck out for you to stay” Sullivan sighed, speaking mostly to himself.

He noticed out of the corner of his eye that Pruitt looked more than a little surprised after his comment.

“Hold on,” Sullivan said suddenly thinking back to his conversation that morning with Andy in his office when she mentioned she got into a fight with Bishop about something.

“What does this have to do with you?” he asked, turning towards Andy, who had redoubled her interest in her food.

Everyone else, who had been quietly watching the scene unfold in front of them, all tensed up.

Andy kept her eyes down as she quietly said, “Jack and I, we kinda used to date last year.”

“What?!” Sullivan exclaimed in shock, eyes darting between Andy and Gibson. 

He was surprised to find a part of himself feeling what he could only describe as jealousy, but he quickly brushed that feeling off and focused on the other part of him that was pissed off at the hipocrasy of Pruitt yelling at him for not noticing Gibson and Bishop when he apparently didn't even notice that Gibson was sleeping with his daughter.

"So let me get this straight," Sullivan said as calmly as he could while turning back to face Pruitt, "You got mad at me for not noticing anything going on between lieutenants Gibson and Bishop, but when you were Captain you didn't notice what was going on between Gibson and Herrera?"

Pruitt glared at him and crossed his arms stubbornly "This has nothing to do with that."

"You're right," Sullivan said placing his hands on his hips, "Gibson and Bishop are the same rank, but Gibson and Herrera were fighting for the Captain position before I arrived, which is a much bigger deal and considering I never heard anything about this and the fact that they are still working on the same shift you must not have reported it."

Pruitt elected to say nothing, continuing to stare at Sullivan with his arms crossed and a very furious expression on his face.

Sullivan then turned to Gibson and Bishop who finally looked up at him when he addressed them, "I understand that tensions are running high right now, so at the beginning of next shift the three of us will sit down and discuss this situation and the next steps."

"Yes sir," they both chorused.

"And then," Sullivan said cautiously, knowing that what he was about to say was going to ruffle some feathers, "I will need to have a meeting with all of the lieutenants on this shift to see if any of you can still work together."

At that everyone at the table's heads shot towards his in surprise.

"What?" Andy exclaimed in shock.

He looked towards her and tried his best to be sympathetic while also ensuring that they all took what he said seriously, "I know this shift is especially close, but we can't have personal problems getting in the way of the work we do, that is how people end up hurt, or dead."

Everyone nodded in understanding before exchanging nervous glances with one another and then going back to eating in silence.

Sullivan was just about to go back downstairs to his office and finish up the paperwork he was working on when Pruitt came up beside him and spoke quietly into his ear, "Maybe now would be a good time to start making an effort and eating with the team, before you seperate them all."

There was a hint of anger in Pruitt's voice as he got to the last part of his sentence, but Sullivan decided it was probably best to stick around and get a better sense of the problem at hand and see if Herrera, Gibson, and Bishop could get along.

Sullivan eventually gave in and grabbed a plate off the counter and started filling it with food.

He was surprised that Pruitt followed not far behind him, taking a seat next to him at the table.

———————

The rest of dinner was silent and awkward even more so since Sullivan and Pruitt had joined the table.

But that was not what Vic was focused on.

She had gotten a text earlier from Lucas that said he was going in to talk to HR and asking her if she was sure she wanted to do this. She had replied yes, but she hadn't heard anything from him since, which was making her very anxious. She decided that if she still hadn’t heard from him by the time they were finished dinner she would try calling him.

“Now is everything finally out in the open, or is anyone else keeping any secrets they would like to share?” Pruitt asked as everyone was just about finished their meals.

Vic looked up and saw multiple sets of eyes glancing her way, causing her to move awkwardly in her seat.

“Okay,” Vic eventually huffed, moving to stand.

"You don't have to do this if you don't want to," Travis whispered in her ear as he grabbed her hand, but she shook her head and told him that it was alright.

He gave her a reassuring smile and squeezed her hand in a show of support.

Dean, Ben, and Pruitt were all giving her confused looks while everyone else was looking at her expectantly.

Vic was so nervous that she could feel her palms sweating and she was sure that her heart was beating faster then it ever had before.

She started singing the teapot song to herself in her head to try and calm herself down.

“For the last few months I-“

Just as Vic had started to speak, the door to the beanery was forcefully pushed open to reveal a very pissed off Battalion Chief Frankel.

Everyone looked over at her in surprise, confused as to what she was doing there.

Vic watched as Frankel’s eyes darted around for a moment until they landed on her.

“Hughes” she said through clenched teeth, “Get in the conference room - NOW!”

**Author's Note:**

> This started off as a one-shot but it kind of got away from me so it’s probably going to end up being a few chapters long


End file.
